1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receipt printing and issuing system, and a printing method for the same, and relates more particularly to a receipt printing and issuing system and method for printing information of added value (also referred to below as “advertising information” or “additional information”) such as an advertisement, coupon, introduction or event advertisement, to a receipt or queuing number ticket such as issued by a queuing number printer used in banks, securities companies, and hospitals to issue numbers for serving customers in order, or POS system or sales register printers for issuing receipts.
2. Description of Related Art
POS systems that can print specific information input from a data entry terminal, for example, located in the store in addition to sales receipt information printed on the sales receipt issued by the POS system have been proposed for use primarily in convenience stores and other retail establishments. Such systems can directly provide individual local residents with advertisements and information about local events, such as community chess tournaments or karaoke singing contests. As lifestyles change, such systems can be an extremely effective advertising medium for events in the near future. One of the basic functions essential to any system for printing such added-value information for handing directly to customers is a function for issuing printed matter to a customer.
The additional information is printed by such systems in addition to the information conventionally printed by the system, and is typically printed without white space therebetween. The advertising, public announcement, or other information thus additionally printed by the system is referred to herein as “additional information” or “advertising information.” In addition, a POS system or other system having a function for printing such additional information is referred to herein as a “receipt printing and issuing system.”
In a conventional POS system capable of printing advertising information to a customer receipt automatically extracts the print data based on customer information input by the convenience store operator (clerk, for example), and then prints the receipt. Whether the advertising information printed on the receipt is of any particular interest to the customer receiving the receipt is therefore unknown.
If the information printed on the receipt is of real interest to the customer receiving the receipt, the customer can be expected to read the information with care, making the advertisement extremely effective. Such media can be a powerful advertising medium depending on how it is used because such media are handed one at a time to a single customer.
Furthermore, any system that generates a receipt or other printed medium for a specific purpose is a potential advertising medium as used herein. Such systems can be integrally linked and operated as an advertising medium, and the value of such an advertising medium is potentially very powerful.
For example, queuing number printers (printers that print numbers for customers waiting in line at a bank or hospital, for example), ATMs, and even parking lot ticket printers offer potential advertising media. Potential advertising media such as these are already commonly used and there is widespread interest in using such media for advertising purposes.
Each of these potential advertising media is passed individually to a single customer, and the success of the system as an advertising medium therefore depends on how successfully information of interest can be provided to a particular customer.
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a receipt printing and issuing system, advertising method, and data storage medium capable of providing advertising information of the greatest possible interest to the customer to whom the printed medium is provided.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a receipt printing and issuing system and advertising method that can be deployed in any system that generates a printed medium, and is therefore applicable but not limited to a POS system.